I've got a question regarding Uposatha and hopefully this is an appropriate section to ask. It looks like Magha Puja is tomorrow (Monday...whenever you read this) and let me first say I wish everyone a happy one!

Now I've practiced Uposatha before, but really just the precepts. I haven't gone out during this time as there is no temple near me. My main question deals with clothing. I understand that most laypeople will wear all white during this time, of which I have none of (college students have a very limited wardrobe). My question is, what particular clothing is there? Would one wear white kurta pyajamas, khakis and tshirt, etc? I would very much like to go a step further with this and wear the traditional clothing but not sure where to start or where to purchase such clothing.

I had a similar problem in Winter last year. In the end I wore some cream coloured pants and a white "hoodie" with a white t-shirt underneath. I'm not sure whether it was a no-no or not but during the meditation I actually had the hood on because it was so cold and as you can see from my profile picture, I have very short hair. No one seemed to think there was any problem with anything and earlier correspondence with the abbot suggested that comfort and practicality was as much a criteria as anything else... make sure you're warm, he said.

Thank you for your input, retro! For one, I've been curiosu about the cultural aspect of the clothing, hence my mention of Indian clothing. Also, I unfortunately have no white clothing...at least without ornate images on them. But that is interesting and I can see that it can be quite informal in some cases.

Not all wear white, so no need to concern yourself with that much. Most just wear what they would wear any other day; some are somewhat formal and most are informal, like what they would wear on their time off from work. Most want to be comfortable so are not too formal in their attire.

I haven't worn white as of yet, so I'm not too concerned with being "inappropriate" in some way. But I'm at a level in my practice, as well as spiritual inspiration, that I would like to start following the tradition whenever possible. That's one of the reasons I was asking about a specific type of clothing like a kurta/robes and where one may recommend buying such clothing.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion … ...He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.John Stuart Mill

I do see a lot plain shirts and pants worn in South East Asia, particularly Thailand. It's definitely got me thinking, so thanks for the input. =) The kurta still looks more comfortable and I suppose it feels good just going with something of that tradition as well. There's a few online shops that sell cotton ones for about $40 so I'll look into it.